Steven Moffat insists Doctor Who movie will NOT be a reboot

The Who fandom can breathe a sigh of relief! At least we hope we can, 'cause Steven Moffat has come out again to dismiss—we hope once and for all—Harry Potter director David Yates' recent affirmations that he's planning a Doctor Who movie from scratch.

Doctor Who showrunner and Tintin scribe Steven Moffat took to Twitter yesterday and said:

This statement comes hot on the heels of (in fact only a few hours later than) David Yates once again confirming to MTV News that he was indeed working on a Doctor Who movie that, to every fan's dismay, would have nothing to do with Who's 48 years TV history:

"I can't really talk about that because its such a long way away. We're principally looking for a writer, and we'll start with that. Everything has to start with a great script, so that's more important than [casting]."

Which is all well and good, but Moffat felt that shouldn't be held to that statement:

Steven Moffat also apparently issued a statement in a local newspaper saying that Doctor Who was "a vitally important BBC brand with a huge international audience" and one which "not even Hollywood can start from scratch":

"There simply are no developed plans for a Doctor Who movie at the moment [but] if and when the movie happens it will need to star television's Doctor Who — and there's only ever one of those at a time. ... Whatever happens, the BBC and BBC Worldwide will work together to ensure that we don't just get a movie, we get the movie that everyone wants."

Amen to that!

At some point, we'll get some sort of clarity as to who is running the Doctor Who movie machine: the current caretaker or the Potter-tested director. But for now, we'll just have to watch the sparks fly.